Solving the problem of drinking water in Zhangpojiao

The problem of drinking water has been a constant nag for the Miao people of Zhangpojiao. As a member of SP Edify, we also deeply regret it: we have used every available channel to ask the relevant government authorities in Kaiyuan and Jianshui, hoping they do something to solve this critical problem, but the answer we have received has been: ""it is not in our jurisdiction, besides they are 'black people, black villages' (the term used to describe illegal migrants)"". Having no other choice, we ourselves made our own plan: to pump water from a river situated 2 km. from the village pumping water in two stages until it can reach our water cistern. If this plan is successful, we can, once and for all, solve the problem of drinking water for Zhangpojiao, and we don't need any more to be looking at the sky every single day.

That day, we drove from Kunming to the Maliao River in Jianshui County. Maliao River meanders in the middle of deep gorges coming from high mountains, it is a cristaline water little river, upriver there is a private hydroelectric power plant. Our plan is to pump water from here and pump it up very steep slopes. When we were waiting at the power plant, the sky was already full of stars and everything surrounding us was enveloped in a curtain of darkness. The people that the village had sent to help us were already assembled here, including the good and skilled leader Mr. Song, who was already directing the pipeworks. We think that if everything goes smoothly, in about 8 days we can start pumping clear and clean water from the river straight to our water cistern. Pray that God and his Peace bless us!

To place water pipes over 700 meters of steep slopes up to the riverside is not such a difficult thing to do, but to pump water from the river at a ramp of almost 80 degrees up to a level piece of land is unbelievably difficult. Moreover, the slope is so steep that, if you are not very careful, a serious accident may happen. Our water pumps can not pump water all the way in only one stage, so we had to do it in 5 stages. Anyone can imagine the difficulties of building 4 or 5 pumping stations in a 80 degrees slope, but, in order to be able to drink clean and clear water, we had to think about ways and means to build those pumping stations: in the slope we dug 4 platforms of 1 square meter each and placed an oil barrel in each one, pumping water from stage one onto the stage two and so on up to 5 stages, and on the stage 5 we dug a pit of about 3 square meters. From there, using a more powerful water pump and the natural ground level, we pumped the water straight into the village communal water cistern, which was about 800 meters away. When everything was ready, we put the 5 water pumps to work, and the clean and clear water started arriving at the village water cistern. The whole village was elated because they did not need to worry about drinking water any more, and our hearts are full of relieve and happiness just looking at the smiling face of the villagers.